


Inalgesco

by agirlnamedtruth



Series: Strength In Numbers [7]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Anger, Canonical Character Death, Dark, Grief/Mourning, Multi, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-22
Updated: 2014-03-22
Packaged: 2018-01-16 14:30:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1350844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agirlnamedtruth/pseuds/agirlnamedtruth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Ygraine's death, Uther copes. Nimeuh can't turn the other cheek to his methods.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inalgesco

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Camelot Land](http://camelot-land.livejournal.com/) prompts:
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> _"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - Martin Luther King_
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> _"But the ice was getting thinner under me, under you." - Death Cab For Cutie The Ice is Getting Thinner._
> 
>  
> 
> The Martin Luther King prompt is featured in the fic and is used with love, not out of plagiarism.
> 
>  
> 
> This is set in a pre-canon AU 'verse ([Strength In Numbers](http://archiveofourown.org/series/81097)) where Uther, Ygraine, Gaius and Nimueh were in a poly-relationship before Arthur's birth.

Nimueh watched on in equal parts dismay and disgust as the pyres were lit. A dozen men and women burned; their friends, her followers. Simply for using magic. She'd thought he'd call it off at the last moment, change his heart, soften the ice around it. But even the heat of the pyre could not melt that ice, Nimueh realised.

"This is not what she would have wanted," she protested, flinging open the door to the balcony where Uther stood over the people, like some kind of vengeful deity. But not even the cruellest deity would do this.

"My wife is dead," Uther said, completely detached from his words, not taking his eyes off the flames.

" _Your wife_?" Nimueh spat back. "We all loved her. Will you burn Gaius and I next?"

"You both swore an oath to obey the laws of Camelot when I welcomed you into the kingdom," Uther said, as if it answered her question at all.

"When I came to this kingdom, with Ygraine, the use of harmless magic was not against the law," Nimueh objected.

"There is no such thing as _harmless_ magic," Uther said, finally expressing an emotion, even if it was anger. "Magic is evil, it corrupts and kills. It's ruined us all."

"You ruined us," Nimueh corrected. "The magic was incidental."

"It's against nature," Uther continued as if he hadn't heard her. "It raises servants above their stations and makes a common mad think he is God."

"Isn't that what you're doing now this moment? Playing God?" Nimueh asked, ignoring the insult aimed at her and forcing herself to look at the pyres again, to remind herself that she was talking to a man who didn't know what he was doing, who was driven mad by grief. 

"I am righting the balance," Uther said and Nimueh shivered at the words.

"You are not. You think you can ever be happy again this way? You think this will stop you from hurting? It won't. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

"Love?" Uther said derisively. "She never _loved_ you. She was my wife, she married me. She played with you, we all did."

Nimueh held herself back from slapping him or cursing him. She knew he was being spiteful and low to make her hurt as he was hurting but some words she could not easily forgive. Nor some actions. "You are walking on thin ice, Uther Pendragon, and it is only getting thinner."

**Author's Note:**

> As of 01/01/18, I'm opting to disable comments. [More information here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13077201).


End file.
